Aore Coffee eyes overseas expansion after domestic success

October 20, 2024 10:22 pm | Posted in Business News | Share now TwitterFacebook

By Ezra Toara.

Aore Coffee, a small business currently selling its products domestically, is preparing to expand into international markets.

The family business that is managed by Lavinia Garae, also handles the production of Aore cocoa. An Interview with the VanuatuDaily Post at the Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Day in Port Vila, Garae shared the company’s journey and their future plans.

The company operates from Aore Island in Santo, where they utilise large roaster machines to process their cocoa.

“Our roaster machines are quite large. When we process cocoa, we typically roast around 10 kilograms at a time before packaging it,” she explained.

Each processing session produces approximately 100 packaging bags of cocoa, which are then distributed across Santo and Port Vila.

Garae noted that they source their packaging bags from China, branded with the name “Aore Island.” However, they are now considering rebranding.

”The current packaging belongs to the previous owner, and we are planning to update it to reflect our ownership and new branding initiatives. There are two brands—’Aore Island Coffee’ and ‘Island Coffee Producer’—and we are using the latter for now,” she said.

Since launching the business in 2021, Aore Coffee has also ventured into cocoa production, processing cocoa beans from their land on Aore Island. They have recently opened a small shop in their village, furthering their domestic reach.

While their products are currently sold locally, Aore Coffee is looking forward to expanding into international markets. “We haven’t gone global yet, but we are eager to start exporting overseas soon,” Garae added.

The business began with the purchase of machinery and has since grown through the harvesting, fermentation, bulking, and packaging of cocoa.

Aore Coffee’s vision of expanding into new markets and launching a coffee shop is well underway as they continue to grow their domestic presence.